The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-10
YANKEE suLLEvAMs GRAVE.
srhe Fun Truth About the Pugilist's
Death Just Made Public

YANKEE SULLIVANS GRAVE,
srhe Fun Truth About the Puginst's
Death Just Made Public
From the Providence journal
Not far from the eastern extremity of the
old Mission Dolores Cemetery, near San
Francisco there is plain, white marble
monument, some eight or ten feet in height,
,ipon which is carved the following inscrip-
ton: .
JAMES SULLIVAN,
who Died BY The Hands OF The V. c., May 81,
1886, Aged 40 Years
ANTHEM.
Remember not, o Lord, our offenses nor those
of our sins.
and in Thy mercy Thou shalt destroy mine enc
mics. - ....
Erected by James Mulloy, Jan. 20, 1853.
This monument marks the gave of the
famous prize fighter Yankee" Sullivan,
who though no relation to the present no.
ted pugilist of the same surname was equal
" renowned III his day. He was a remark
able man in many respects, and had a very
SINGULAR and romantic history, with which
no0ne but himself was ever fully acquainted.
He was known by several names at various
neriodsaof his life, and what his true one
was none of his associates in this country
knew, but it is quite certain that it was not
Sullivan.
Though born III Ireland, he went to Eng
land quite early in life, and soon gained a
wide reputation as a pugilist He finally
placed himself in the front rank of his pro-
fession by conquering Homer Lane, then
light weight of the fistic arena in England
lie soon after emigrated to the United
States, and it was while keeping saloon in
New York that he fought his great battle
with Thomas Hyer, the famous American
pugilist, at Rock Point, Md, Feb. z, 1910,
For the championship of America and So,
O90-the largest stake ever fought for in the
prize ring. The encounter was one of the
most celebrated on record. Though it re-
suited in Sullivan's defeat, 1t made his name
known all over America, and he and Hyer
were the lions of the day.
Sullivan fought other celebrated battles
in this. country, notably one with the late
John Morrissey, in which he wonld certainly
have been victorious had he not taken a
hand in wrangle which occurred between
the seconds, becoming so interested in it
that he failed to respond TO the call of time,
whereupon the referee awarded the fight to
Morrissey.
In the latter part of 1856 Sullivan came
out to San Francisco, ostensihly for pleas
ure, and / am assured by Mr.. A. n. Muir
ply, the esteemed old resident to whom |
am largely indebted for these "reminiscences,
that during the few months that the pugil
ist lived here no man could have borne him
self more peaceably.
II knew him well" says Mr. Murphy,
land whatever his previous record may
have been, | firmly believe that, so far as
his life on the Pacific coast is concerned, he
had conscience void of offense toward any
man. But he came here with a bad reputa-
ton, and being known as pugilist he was
regarded by the VigilanteS as a quarrelsome
desperate, ever ready for any evil-dolng
whatever that temptation and opportunity
might render possible. 1t was at the time
when the Vigilance Committee was in the
height of its power, and when the life of
every man against whom there was even
the slightest ground for suspicion of diSor-
der was in momentary danger.
Sullivan was an object of dislike to the
NigilanteS from the first, and may be truly
said to have been marked man from the
very moment he set foot in San Francisco.
Yet so creditably did he conduct himself
that it was impossible for them to find any
pretext for his taking off until, at length,
he acted as a Judge of election in a bitter
political contest, which resulted in a man
ner unsatisfactory to the VigilanteS. Then
they seized and imprisoned him in their
rooms on a charge of being party to ballot
box stuffing and other election frauds-an
accusation of which there was no proof,
and of which l myself and many other repu
table citizens who knew him believed him
entirely innocent"
He was too popular a man, and there was
TOO little evidence of any wrongdOing for
the Vigilantes to execute him publicly, but
on the morning of May 81, 1856, he was
found lifeless in his place of confinement;
with a severed artery in his arm, from
which he had bled to death. All the local
newspapers accounts Of this affair
published at the time, which
have carefully CLEANED from
old files in the Mercantile and other libraries
of San Francisco, state that he committed
suicide, and all who have written upon the
subject since then have quietly accepted that
statement without making any inveStiga-
ton of its truth, but it must always be
borne in mind that the Vigilance Commit
tee absolutely controlled the entire press of
this city, and that therefore it wrote its own
history. There was but one newspaper
the HeraId-which dared to lift its voice,
committee and its doings. All the others
upheld it, and strongly urged it to
much holder deeds than any it dared to
attempt.
Sullivan died in one of the committees
rooms, sequestered from all his friends and
from every eye save that OF the Vigilance
Committee and the Great Author of life
and death. If the Vigilantes chose to make
the statement that Sullivan had taken his
own life, who but the all-seeing God could
contradict or disprove their assertion.
Suliivan's friends and the members of the
Law and Order party, an organization
formed by few reputable citizens to OPP
pose the Vigilantes, believed that he had
been murdered by the COMMITTEES. When
they applied for permission to inter his body
in the old cemetery of the Mission Dolores,
he having died faithful Catholic, the &c
clesiastical authorities thoroughly investi-
gated the matter. the laws of the Church
forbidding the burial OF a suicide in conse-
Grated ground. The result of that investi-
cation was to thoroughly convince all con-
cerned in it that Sullivan had been assassin
ated, and the fact that his remains now rest
in the consecrated burial ground of a Catho-
lie Church is the best possible proof that
ne was guiltless of any hand in his own
death.